Swarm
by Kim Eeppinen
Summary: Taylor triggers with a different powerset and truly becomes the Swarm. Progress slowed down due to IRL issues, and rewriting (I wrote myself into a corner).
1. Trigger

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Trigger**

 _Winslow High_

It had been quiet on the bullying front. This made Taylor uneasy. There was a tension building up, a feeling of static electricity filling up the hallways. Then again, maybe it was just her. Perhaps they really had gotten bored of tormenting her. Right.

She checked around, didn't see anyone obviously threatening nearby. Her locker seemed to be all right this time. She walked closer and started to pick up a smell. It got stronger the nearer she got to the locker. What had those bitches done now?

She almost didn't open the locker. The stench was revolting, but she had to see. There were things in the locker she just might need if they would be salvageable. She hastily opened the lock and pulled the locker open. The stench rolled out, some of the waste falling out. There was brown-black goo slowly flowing out the locker.

Taylor bent over and heaved the contents of her stomach on the floor in front of the locker. Then someone grabbed her waist and hair and pushed her into the locker. On the toxic waste. The used and discarded feminine products had fermented and marinated in the locker over the holidays. They had attracted bugs. The door of the locker was banged shut and Taylor heard the lock being replaced.

Taylor screamed and banged the door. A bug crawled near her mouth, so she clamped her mouth shut and tried to wipe her face clear only to bring more bugs to her face on her hand. She shut her eyes and felt bugs crawling on top of them, some of them probing her nostrils. She tried to bang the doors more. She had to vomit again. The stench was overpowering.

No one was coming. They'd leave her here. She'd be stuck until one of the school staff came by, and they rarely visited the third floor. Almost all of the classrooms up here were abandoned. She'd go insane or catch some horrible disease. She tried banging the door and the walls again. She felt the bugs in her hair, crawling across her face, inside her clothes.

Then Taylor saw, with her eyes still tightly shut, two huge entities, traveling at an incredible speed toward a blue marble floating in the darkness. Their helical route would obviously end on that planet - Earth - and there would be work to do. The entities were shedding something that sped towards the planet ahead of them.

Taylor came to. She was still in the locker, still stuck. She lifted her hand again to try to shield her nose from the bugs. Her eyes had adjusted and in the dim light coming from the grill and the edges of the door she could see her own hand. The hand that started to unravel right in front of her eyes, turning into more bugs. She screamed.

* * *

 _Hospital_

"... understand, your daughter is a parahuman. Our regular staff is not…"

"... want them punished for …"

"-or, honey, are you waking up? Taylor?"

Relief flooded over Taylor. It was her dad. She felt his hand squeezing hers. She also knew him. All of him. Every mole, every hair, every ounce of muscle, bone and fat. Every twitch of a muscle, the beating of his heart, the quiet processes of liver and kidneys. It was disconcerting. She opened her eyes, looked at her dad.

Danny Hebert was not a handsome man. Balding head and weak chin. Tall but not muscular. Somewhat overweight. Now with extra bags under his eyes. A hesitant smile on his face, a few tears rolling down his face.

"Taylor, you're awake!"

His exclamation alerted the nurse in the room. He turned to Taylor and offered a sip of water from a straw. Taylor gratefully accepted it. Her mouth was dry and her throat felt parched. Water was soothing, cool.

"Dad, I… I'm sorry." She felt tears rolling down her face.

"Oh Taylor, baby. You have nothing to be sorry for. It wasn't your fault, none of it." Daniel Hebert bent down to hug her daughter. She sobbed a little on his shoulder. Shortly the shudders ceased.

"Dad, what happened? I… I remember the locker. Then…" A shudder ran through her. "The bugs. Oh my god, the bugs were everywhere." Her eyes were tightly shut and she shuddered. "My hand… my hand broke apart, dad. It became bugs."

"Shh. Taylor." Her dad was trying to calm her. He was rubbing her back. "It is all right." A couple of minutes and she calmed down again. Danny straightened up, sitting back on the chair next to the bed.

"Taylor, you triggered in the locker. You are a cape, dear," he said softly. "I don't know it all. I don't understand it all. But if you want to, I can call Miss Militia. She knows about it, and tried to explain it all to me, too."

"Triggered? Dad, what do you mean I'm a cape? Miss Militia?"

"You have powers, Taylor. I don't know all of it, not yet, not until you can explain some things. The doctors found out some, and Miss Militia offered to help with all the cape stuff. She's also helped with Winslow. With that bastard Barnes, and the Clements' too. Sophia's been arrested."

"Dad, how long?"

"It's been two days, Taylor. You were in a coma for two days."

* * *

 _Miss Militia_

A woman walked into Taylor's hospital room. She looked Middle-Eastern. Her face was partially hidden by a US flag bandanna covering the lower part of it. Taylor looked for a weapon on her but couldn't see one. Perhaps a knife or a pistol in the small of her back?

"Hi Taylor, I'm Miss Militia," the woman said, offering her hand for Taylor.

After a moment of hesitation Taylor took the hand and shook it. Information about her physical condition, dimensions and structure filled her mind. "Umm. Miss Militia? You should probably know that when I touch someone I sort of… know them? See them? I get information about how they're made up. So now, if ever I touch you again, I'll know it's you. Bandanna or no bandanna."

Miss Militia froze for a moment and suddenly she had a pistol in a quick-draw holster on her hip. Then she sighed and the weapon disappeared again. "I… see. Or I really don't. Oh well. That's what I get for making physical contact with a cape with unknown powers. I thought you were just a Changer."

"Changer? Dad didn't seem to know much about what happened to me."

Miss Militia drew out a chair and sat on it facing Taylor. "Yes, well, he didn't really want to know all that much. Said that it'd be better if I just explained to you and then tell him what you thought he needed to know. A good principle."

She seemed to be thinking about how to continue. "When you were pulled out of the locker, unconscious, your homeroom teacher, Mrs. Knott, said that you looked different. Your father said the same thing, and later the doctors confirmed it. You changed when you triggered, Taylor. Apparently you are now in optimal health and fitness according to your genes. More than that, the few genetic flaws and tendencies towards ill health are absent or dormant, even though your father still carries them." She seemed to spot Taylor's momentary alarm. "Don't worry, it's not anything serious. Slightly higher chance of lung cancer if he smoked, tendency to go bald, a rare congenital illness that he has inherited from only one parent when he'd need to have it from two generations on both sides. Things like that. You don't have any of them anymore." She looked at Taylor, making sure that she was following and was calm.

"You'll find that you're much stronger, agiler, fitter, than ever before when you get up and about. But that's not exactly what your power is, Taylor."

Miss Militia took a moment to think. "You see, when they pulled you out of that locker you didn't have a left hand. Your arm ended a bit under the elbow as if you had never had a hand. And then some of the bugs in the locker followed you out. They tried to swat them off, even squished some, but no matter how they managed to spread the bugs they always came back. After a while they gave up."

She must have noticed Taylor going pale, squeezing her fists closed so that her knuckles were white. It was obvious that the girl didn't really want to hear this. It was also imperative that she did.

"Taylor. Listen. It is all right. The bugs didn't do anything to you." She reached to Taylor, took her hand and squeezed reassuringly. "When you and the bugs they couldn't get rid of were in the ambulance the EMTs noticed that your hand seemed to be growing back. At the same time the bugs were disappearing. That's how we knew that you were a Changer. We don't exactly know what your powerset is, yet, but once you're feeling better we can find out."

Taylor was silent for a long while. "So it did really happen? My hand turned into bugs?" There was abject horror in her expression when she said it.

Slowly, reluctantly, Miss Militia nodded. "It appears so. I'm so sorry, Taylor. Trigger events are never fun, and yours was particularly horrible. And the power you got might not be what you would have wanted either, but it is what you got. You can try not to use it, ever, but it rarely succeeds. Powers want to be used."

Taylor cried, then. A silent sobbing, drawing her hands and legs in, to be as small as possible. Miss Militia rose slowly and sat on the edge of the bed, drawing Taylor into an embrace. "Taylor. Listen. It will be all right. Your father knows and understands. We can help you to come to terms with this. You can even join the Wards if you want, once you've discovered your powers."

Slowly Taylor ran out of tears and settled down. "What happens now? I don't want to go back to Winslow."

A grimace passed over Miss Militias face, replaced by a professional veneer. "You don't have to. You have a week or two of sick leave, and then you will attend Arcadia High. Your transfer has been already approved."

"As for the incident itself… You'll find out eventually anyways, but PRT is handling your bullying case. We're leaning heavily on the school to resolve the matter. Your father already signed a nondisclosure agreement, and you'll have to do it too, later, but I can tell you that one of your bullies was a Ward. Not anymore. She was already on probation. Her handler dropped the ball in a monumental and deliberate way." There was steel in her eyes, words, and posture. "I will make sure this never happens again. Anywhere."

Taylor thought for a while. A Ward? One of the three? There were only two female Wards at the moment, and Vista was much younger than her. That left only Shadow Stalker. It couldn't be Madison, and the build was wrong for Emma. Sophia. Sophia Hess was Shadow Stalker. "Shadow Stalker? I was bullied by Shadow Stalker?" It made so much sense, too. How they always got into her locker. Sophia had just pushed her hand straight through the door in her shadow form.

Miss Militia nodded. "Yes. She's out of the Wards and on her way to juvie. The two others are being dealt with."

"How? I mean, why? How did you know? About the bullying?"

"When we got the call about a new trigger, we checked you out. We asked your father for permission to check your house for evidence and found your… diary." She shuddered at the memory of the contents. Page after page of incidents that should have driven anyone to drastic measures. Yet Taylor had taken it, never fighting back in any way. Yet she didn't seem submissive or passive. Perhaps she just had a moral compass that strong.

Taylor felt tears on her cheeks again and wiped them away. "So it's over? It's really over?"


	2. Experimentation

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Experimentation**

Arcadia High was the polar opposite of Winslow. Clean hallways, no gang signs on the walls, and plenty of light. It had actual fields around it, and they were well-kept. It was surrounded by a wall. It was common knowledge that Wards attended Arcadia and the wall was probably the first of many defensive features and the most obvious one.

She was twenty minutes late for her homeroom, but for a good reason. Taylor had actually been almost half an hour early, but sorting out everything with vice principal Howell had taken a while.

Taylor's homeroom was in a computer lab. She knocked on the door, heard the teacher call "Come in!". She stepped inside into a quiet class. The low hum of the computers was all she heard for a few seconds as she stepped towards the teacher's desk. The teacher was a few inches shorter that Taylor, with pleasantly rounded features, perhaps just a bit overweight. She was dressed in loose jeans, sneakers and a hoodie, and was in her late twenties.

"Taylor, right? I'm Mrs. Hawthorne. Mrs. Howell said you'd be coming. Do you want to introduce yourself to the others?"

Taylor hesitated for a moment, then nodded and turned to look at the others sitting behind their computer screens. "Hi," she started, "I'm Taylor Hebert. I transferred from Winslow. I hope we can get along." It sounded horribly awkward to her but at least no one laughed.

"Glad to have you here, Taylor. Now, let's see if we can find you a place," Mrs. Hawthorne said and turned to check her monitor. "I see that there's a free place next to Chris. Chris!"

A boy with brown hair at the back of the class jumped up and practically yelped "Yes, ma'am!" Before looking a bit sheepish and blinking owlishly.

"There you go, Taylor. Chris, I know you're bored but could you please just try to stay awake?"

Taylor made her way to Chris and sat carefully next to him, checking the chair first. She caught herself doing it and thought it would take a while for those reflexes to go away. The computer screen in front of her showed a login screen and she went through the papers to find the username and password Mrs. Howell had given her.

"Taylor, right? Sorry, I missed your intro. Long night," Chris said, startling her.

"Umm, that's OK. It wasn't that interesting," she mumbled.

Chris offered his hand and after a stunned moment, Taylor reached out and shook hands with him. "Chris. I'm pretty far ahead class in Computers, so if you need any help, just ask."

The information Taylor got about Chris rifled through her mind and she had to hide a grimace. Chris had an active Corona Pollentia, same as Miss Militia and herself. She had accidentally stumbled upon a Ward.

"I used to be in advanced class, so I think I've got the basics. I just don't know how I'm doing here."

Taylor took a closer look at Chris and started ticking off alternatives. Not Aegis or Browbeat, too small and normal anatomy and physiology. Probably not Gallant with his personality. Clockblocker or Kid Win then.

"So where did you transfer from? I don't think it matters, though, I think most of the kids our age are a bit computer illiterate, so every school is more than likely on the same line."

Clockblocker's costume covered him so well that there wasn't anything to go by, but Kid Win's hair was visible in the photos. It was brown, and unless it was a sham, Chris was Kid Win.

"Winslow. It's true, what you said. I was just hoping that I might, you know, learn something."

"You're that good?" Chris seemed to perk up. "Great! You have to pick Advanced Programming as an elective, then! There's only half a dozen or so of us, and the school regularly threatens to cancel the class due to lack of interested students."

After that Taylor got her user account checked out, changed her passwords and checked out what they'd already done this semester. It was depressingly similar to what Mrs. Knott had had them doing. Same basic stuff she had done at Winslow. She sighed and decided to sign up for the Advanced Programming course Chris suggested and hope for the best. Rest of the class went easily, alternating between listening to Mrs. Hawthorne and chatting with Chris. Actually, it was mostly Chris talking and her nodding and mumbling and occasional reply.

Chris was in most of the same classes as her. He wanted her to meet and shake hands with, practically everyone he knew personally. Taylor didn't really mind. Dennis she had met during lunch break when following Chris to a table. Dean had visited the table to say hi to Chris and Dennis before going to sit with Victoria Dallon. Amy Dallon was sitting next to her sister. Taylor really didn't want to touch Amy. That would mean she would touch her, and as Panacea she'd instantly know that Taylor was a cape as well.

Chris was surprisingly easy to talk to. Dennis was a redheaded jester, his humor missing the mark at least as often as hitting it. Dean had been exceedingly polite, in a friendly way. Clockblocker and Gallant, respectively, she thought. They were a strong endorsement for the Wards. Sophia and PRT were even stronger negatives on that ledger.

Taylor had briefly considered leaving a part of herself with the Wards, probably as ticks or fleas to follow them, but had decided against it. Miss Militia visited the Heberts at least once a week, trying to talk Taylor to join the Wards. Thus far Taylor had declined. After what Shadow Stalker had been allowed to do to her, her respect for the PRT was at an all-time low. At least Miss Militia was nice. She should probably tell her that she had identified some of the Wards. It was just stupid how they all hanged out together at school.

* * *

On her last visit, Miss Militia had promised to pick her up from school and take her to the PRT building where she'd meet Mrs. Yamada, the psychiatrist whose services PRT had offered her. Taylor was a little apprehensive about the whole thing but both Miss Militia and her dad were encouraging her to go. At least it couldn't hurt.

The ride to the PRT was pleasant. Miss Militia talked a little about what she'd done since the last time she saw Taylor and regaled her with the stories of what the Wards had done. When Taylor told her that she had met and identified three wards she had just shrugged and reminded her of the NDA she had signed. Taylor contributed to the conversation her first impressions about Arcadia and some new, although not all, things that she could do with her powers. She had flown as an owl last night and it had been glorious.

Parahuman Response Teams' building in Brockton Bay looked pretty much like any other building on the same block. If it had any special features they were well hidden. As they drove a bit around it and down to the garage Taylor noticed that the security was quite discreet. She hadn't really noticed anything but the doors opened and wooden beams blocking the way rose without them having to slow down at all.

They got out of the car and Miss Militia escorted her through the labyrinthine PRT building. The elevator was cool, obviously tinker tech. Eventually they came to a small waiting area with surprisingly comfortable sofas. Miss Militia made sure Taylor was all right waiting alone and then excused herself. Taylor didn't have to wait long. A Japanese woman in a suit opened one of the doors, spotted her and walked over. "Taylor, I presume?" she asked and offered her hand. Taylor hesitated for a moment, then shook her hand.

Mrs. Yamada was tall for a Japanese woman. That meant that she was about average height. Taylor had several inches on her, especially now that she had grown thanks to her power. Apparently her optimal condition according to her genetics was quite an athlete. The shrink's suit was utilitarian, her hair cut short. This was a working woman, one that took her work seriously. Mrs. Yamada directed her to the office. Not hers. No personal touch. Taylor wondered if she was based elsewhere. She'd read that PRT officials traveled quite a bit, especially if they were specialized.

Mrs. Yamada gestured for Taylor to sit on a leather-upholstered armchair and took a seat on another herself. She picked up a clipboard with a few sheets of paper, mostly empty, from a coffee table next to her chair.

"So how, uh, how does this work?" Taylor asked.

"How would you like this to work? I have some background information but I haven't looked too closely. I'd like to hear you tell about yourself. What bothers you? Why are you here? What do you want to happen?"

Taylor thought for a while. Mrs. Yamada seemed to be patient, was probably used to waiting. Taylor shifted a little. This wasn't what she had expected. "Um. I think PRT, or, well, Miss Militia, at least, would like me to talk about the bullying. About Shadow Stalker." She twitched. "You do know about Shadow Stalker? I can talk to you about it, right?"

"Yes, Taylor. I know about Sophia."

"Ahh. Right, then. Um. But I don't really want to talk about it, you know? I wrote it all down so I wouldn't have to remember. I mean, I'd like to get past it, and I don't know, maybe talk about it, later. But not now. Might be too fresh."

"That's fine, Taylor. What do you want to talk about?"

Taylor hesitated. "Umm. My powers. What if they're really, you know, dangerous? Like, if I snapped, and I'm not snapping, but if I did, it would be really bad? And my power makes me pretty much unstoppable? What if it was like Eidolon?"

"I'd have to talk to you some more, to see if you'd be a real threat. After that, if I even doubted that you could be, I'd have to have two colleagues to talk with you too and if they reached the same conclusion. Then we'd talk with the PRT. Which would probably just make them watch you closely and try to recruit you even more." Mrs. Yamada stopped for a moment. "Taylor, are you telling me that your powers are that dangerous?"

"I… No, I mean, I guess they could be. But doesn't it depend on how I use them, too?"

"Sure. Do you want to talk about them? Your powers?" Mrs. Yamada asked.

"Umm. Yeah. I think I do. Where do we start?"

"Why don't you tell me about them. Start wherever you want. Some people want to go through their powers in the order they discovered them, others go with how important they see their powers. Everyone is different."

Taylor thought about it for a moment. "Well, the order I've discovered it seems easiest. Do you mind if I show some of them as we go on?"

"If they're not dangerous."

"Well. OK. The first one. After the locker, you know. Didn't really… Anyways. When I touched my dad, I knew everything about him. I mean physically. His anatomy, physiology. Structure. It happens every time I touch a living animal, humans included."

"Is that why you hesitated to shake hands with me?"

"Yes. I think it's sort of… Prying, you know? An invasion of privacy? But if I avoid it, or wear gloves, or anything like that, I'm giving out a clue that I'm a cape. And I don't want to out myself. I don't want to voluntarily give out any clues."

"I understand. You get information, might be even intensely personal information, without asking for it, without the other party even knowing you're getting it. Are you doing anything with the information? Have you told others?"

"No, I... No, I haven't used the information in any way. Well, not like that. And my dad knows, and Miss Militia. And probably whoever Miss Militia reports to, I suppose. It's sort of bad, even this power. I can probably find out who Miss Militia is in civvies if I ever run into her, not that she seems to mind, but I also found out who three Wards are. And it came out of nowhere. I mean, I just shook hands with them in school."

"And that worries you?"

"Well, they say that information is power. I've had my powers for less than a month, and I already have information that could screw over people's lives. That… Weighs on me, sometimes."

"It certainly is a big responsibility. Did you tell anyone about the Wards?"

"I told Miss Militia. And no one else."

"That's good. You know the unwritten rules?"

"Yes, of course. It was one of the things Miss Militia explained to me even before I left the hospital. No unmasking capes, of I'll end up as everyone's target." Taylor paused for a moment, changing tracks. "Touching also gives me a template, or improves one, if I touch an individual that's better in some way than the template I have. One template per species. The template carries only the core information. The rest, like appearance and other bits my power thinks are irrelevant, my power generates randomly."

Taylor hesitated a little. "Touch also gives me access to the current state of any animal I touch. I can then transform into that animal. It applies to humans too. Would you like to see?"

Mrs. Yamada thought for a moment. "I think I'd like that. Is there anything I should do?"

"Umm. No, not really. You aren't afraid of bugs, are you? I'm just going to touch you and then transform into you."

"Sounds simple enough, and no, I'm not afraid of bugs."

Taylor looked at Mrs. Yamada. "How much do you weigh? Because if there's too big a difference in our weights I may have to adjust it with bugs."

"Last time I checked I weighed 118 pounds."

"Ahh, um, then I don't think it'll work, at least not in this office. I'd have to shed thousands if not tens of thousands of bugs to drop down to that mass. Unless you want to see what you'd look like if you weighed closer to 150 pounds?"

"Ah, no. We'll just have to save the demonstration for another day. But that brings up your Changer power?"

"Yeah, I suppose. That's what I did next after I got out of the hospital. Wanted to try it. You know what happened in the locker, right? Well, I've been scared of bugs ever since. Can't stand them. And my power, well, it's bugs, right? So I changed, just a little bit. One spider."

Taylor stopped, drew breath. "And it… I didn't really feel anything when I looked at it. It felt like looking at my hand, or in the mirror. The spider was part of me, just like my finger is a part of me. So I turned more of myself into bugs. Nothing. All just me. Then I saw a spider on the wall. It was far enough that I didn't quite fall off my chair but I was startled. Spooked. So I climbed… My bug-selves climbed the wall and ate it. And that too, was just me, doing what bugs do. So I went looking for the others. Ate them all, left myself in their place."

"That… Is many questions I have. But first, why? Why leave yourself, parts of yourself, in place of the bugs that you ate?" Apparently Mrs. Yamada had a strong stomach. Or she was just that professional.

"First, to keep them from coming back. Second, it felt right. Bug instincts, their genetic programming. It… Gave me pause, I took the time to think about it. Bugs are an essential part of any functioning ecosystem. Just killing them off would eventually kill the ecosystem. So now I'm there instead of the bugs. I do what the genetic programming tells me the bugs would do normally. Until I need the extra mass."

"Do you want to go on, or can I ask questions? Either is fine with me."

"Ask. It might help me sort it out, make sense of it to you."

"So your swarm, when you change. Is it you? You feel that all the separate parts of yourself are you?"

"Sure." Taylor thought for a moment. "I'm here but I'm also back home and in the neighborhood. I'm also in New York, and the day before yesterday I spread into the Bay. Did you know that crabs and other crustaceans are also bugs? At least when it comes to my power."

"And you process all that? All the sensory input, make all the decisions?" Mrs. Yamada asked.

Taylor seemed surprised at the question. "Sure. It's just me. And most of the time I don't even make decisions. My bug-selves are fine on autopilot most of the time, like breathing or heart beating. Expanding and hunting I'm much better than natural bugs, making conscious decisions, coordinating different bugs."

"So you eat the offending bugs. How does that feel? What happens to the bugs you eat?"

"It's food," Taylor shrugged. "It's what bugs eat. And what happens to food usually? It sustains me. Helps me grow, increase my mass." Taylor though a moment. "I also get eaten, but that's OK. Often I get templates that way too."

"You said you're in New York? How did that happen? Why?"

Taylor looked a bit uncomfortable as she spoke next. "Umm. Well, I wanted to see if I have a distance limit. Most powers do, right? So I climbed… Some of my bug-selves climbed on a bus heading to New York, hopped off when they reached the city. I'm in the sewers now, increasing my mass. Either I don't have a distance limit, or it's ridiculously big."

"That's extraordinary. How do you feel about this?"

"It's scary. And reassuring. And… I don't know. You know how I am the swarm? This body is just one of the swarm, my human-self. I can transform entirely into bugs, and then transform a human-self anywhere I have enough mass for it. I don't think I can die, at least not until all of me dies. And now I'm scattered all over. If I go nuts I'm going to be a nightmare."

"Are you scared of going nuts? Losing yourself?" Mrs. Yamada asked. She sounded just as interested about this as anything else.

Taylor thought about it. "Not really. At least not more than anyone else, I think. If anything, I'm more grounded now than I was before the locker."

"Good. Taylor, you've mentioned mass a few times now. What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's one of the limits I've discovered. My transformations are limited by my mass. So I eat a lot to increase it. I also breed. Umm, not like… I mean, my bug-selves breed, and each offspring is part of me. Some bugs have larvae or nymphs but I can transform them into adults. It's all about the mass. This way my bug-selves can reproduce quite fast. And I don't have to worry about getting fat. I'm not destroying the ecosystem because I spread, killing natural bugs and taking their places."

Taylor stopped for a moment, thinking what to tell next. "Oh, and mass also affects the way I look. If I shed enough of my human self's mass it gets younger. I think it is because that stage of development is optimal for given body mass." Taylor seemed to think of something, smiling slowly. "I think I know how I can show you a transformation."

Taylor stood up and concentrated for a moment. Her features rippled, flesh moving to a new shape. She lost a few inches of height, gained a little bit of muscle mass, her shoulders broadened an inch or two. A grimace passed over his face. "Dammit. Forgot about the belt. Ouch. I need to start wearing looser clothes if I'm going to be doing this more." Taylor's voice had become masculine.

Mrs. Yamada looked at Taylor. She saw a young man, not too tall, broad-shouldered, fit, and still dressed in Taylor's clothes. She managed to keep her face from betraying how funny it looked. No one she knew. "Taylor, who is this?"

"No one, I think. A shape based on the human template. Random features, and gender. My power doesn't consider that important either. I can force some features if I concentrate, but it's difficult. Usually I just don't bother." Taylor concentrated for another moment and his shape changed back into her usual one. "My own individual shape is the only individual template I have. I can always return to it. For other individuals, I need to touch them." Taylor sat back in her chair. "Oh, would you like to see me turn into a dog? A big one?"

"Not now, I think. Are bugs the only things your swarm can be formed of? Can you turn parts of your swarm into other animals?"

"Nope. I've tried, believe me. Only one non-bug form allowed in the swarm. But the bugs can be any kind of bug. I don't know what the power considers a bug, yet, but I think I'll find out."

"You said earlier that shedding enough mass to turn into me would be thousands or tens of thousands of bugs. How is that?"

"Like I said, my transformation is all about mass. Volume has nothing to do with it. Bugs are light, really, really light. The average weight is far under a gram, although the smallest bugs aren't really any good for me, except for increasing mass. So if I transform entirely into bugs, there's going to be about a hundred thousand of them. Maybe more, depends on what kind of bugs."

Mrs. Yamada seemed to be a bit disturbed about that. Taylor shrugged. "Those are the facts. And that's why I'm kind of worried. A sentient swarm of bugs, especially a shapeshifting swarm, would be a horror. At least a Class A threat. Black widows, brown recluses, wasps… It's not that I'm worried about losing it. It's that my powers are scary. Bugs scare people. Chance of a swarm of bugs spreading out, eating everything bugs can eat? It sounds scary to me. I don't even want to think how big a headache this would be for the guys who have to decide what to do with me when they find out."

Mrs. Yamada was quiet for a while. "Taylor, you don't have to worry about it, for now. We should talk about something lighter for a while. How are things between you and your father?"

Taylor relaxed, somewhat, talking about her day-to-day life, school, lighter, everyday stuff. Before she noticed her time was up. They said their goodbyes and Taylor stepped out of the office. They had agreed to meet again in two weeks.

* * *

Miss Militia walked into the lobby less than a minute after Taylor exited the office. "Did it go well?" She asked.

Taylor smiled a little. She was surprisingly tired. It had been good to talk to someone. "It was fine. I'll be back in two weeks."

Miss Militia answered the smile. "Want to go see the Wards?"

Taylor smiled, much wider this time. "Please. You know that I haven't decided yet? But it would be nice to see them. I can't wait to see how Chris, Dennis and Dean will react to seeing me." Now Taylor was positively grinning.

"You can go masked, you know. They don't have to find out."

Taylor shrugged, still smiling. "It's only fair. I know who they are."

Miss Militia nodded. "Admirable. Shall we?"

They went down, probably to the lowest level. Miss Militia pressed a button and said: "Miss Militia and a guest," simultaneously providing an eye scan of some sort and touching a key card on a reader. "Please wait," came an answer in a pleasant female voice.

They waited for almost two minutes. It was spent in a companionable silence. Taylor had spent enough time and shared enough with Miss Militia that it was possible. Then the door opened.

The Wards East-North-East Headquarters was at least three floors high. The common area they stepped in was shaped like a dome, the top point of the ceiling reaching the three-story height. On the sides was a door to what Taylor assumed were lockers, personal rooms and showers, who knew what else?

The common area itself was decorated plainly but comfortably. A conference table was to the side of the room, and the center was occupied by sofas, armchairs and an entertainment system. Near the door they stepped in from was a computer console manned by costumed Gallant. His costume was a silver and gunmetal power armor.

More interesting than the base were the Wards themselves, at least to Taylor. Kid Win and Clockblocker had been chatting. Kid Win's costume was a power armor as well, but it was red and gold, with a red visor. Clockblocker's costume was white, with animated gray clocks on it, and a white helmet covering his head. No skin was visible anywhere. Vista was dressed in a skirt of alternating white and forest green, some body armor panels, and she had a green visor. Aegis' costume was rust-red, with silver-white trim and a shield emblem, with a similarly colored helmet. Browbeat was dressed in very dark blue spandex with a diamond print. He had a full-face mask that revealed only his eyes with a crystal embedded in it on his forehead.

Clockblocker glanced at Taylor and grabbed Kid Win's shoulder, turning him to look. Kid Win froze.

"Wards, I'd like you to meet Taylor. She's a prospective new member and wanted to come and check the headquarters. She has signed an NDA and already knows some of our identities. Kid Win, Clockblocker, Gallant, you're known to her, so she decided to come here, today, unmasked, to balance the scales. I understand, and I believe Taylor does too, if the rest of you want to stay masked. One more thing: Taylor has a touch-range biometric power, so if you want to stay masked, please don't touch her."

"Hi, all. I know Chris, Dennis, and Dean already. Sorry about that, I didn't want to reveal myself in school. Vista I haven't met yet, and I don't think I've had the privilege of meeting Browbeat or Aegis either."

Kid Win and Clockblocker looked at each other, shrugged and took off their helmets. "Hi Taylor," they said almost at the same time. "So how did you figure us out?" Chris asked.

Taylor shrugged. "Like Miss Militia said, when I touched you I knew everything about your anatomy and physiology. Active Corona Pollentia and your brown hair didn't leave much to be guessed, the alternatives being Kid Win and Clockblocker. After I had you figured out Dennis and Dean were easy. Browbeat and Aegis have anatomies that would have been obvious."

"What else can you do?" Chris asked. Then he twitched. "If it's OK to ask, I mean."

Taylor smiled. "You can ask." Her smile widened into a grin. She left him hanging for a few seconds and watched him squirm. "I'm a shapeshifter. Want to see?"

They all nodded, even Miss Militia looked interested. Taylor had figured out a way around the nakedness problem a week ago. She turned some of her mass into hundreds of butterflies and flew around her human-self to screen it. Then she stripped and shifted into a huge dog, absorbing the butterflies as the last bit of her transformation.

Miss Militia started to walk slowly around her. Vista squeed and took a few running steps closer. Chris and Dennis just watched. Gallant hadn't moved from the console but had taken off his helmet and watched with interest. Aegis turned to Browbeat and said: "I bet she doesn't need to exercise. From what I see, that dog seems to be in perfect health. Probably applies to her human shape too."

"Guess so," Browbeat said, shrugging.

Taylor tilted her head and looked at Vista. It was a rather obvious and dog-like question. Vista hesitated, then took off her visor and introduced herself. "Missy Biron. Can I touch you now?" Taylor lolled out her tongue and took a few steps forward, her tail wagging happily. Vista kneeled and hugged her. "She's adorable. Miss Militia, can we keep her?" Vista asked with some cheer in her voice.

"We'll see, Missy. It's up to her. Aegis, Browbeat, what do you think?"

"She could certainly be useful," Aegis said. "And you trust her, so that's enough for me on that front."

Browbeat just shrugged again. "Would be good to get someone to replace Shadow Stalker."

Taylor's head turned to look at Browbeat. She shook herself and extricated herself from Vista, walking a few steps to her clothes. She shedded the butterflies again, transformed, clothed herself, and then absorbed the butterflies.

"What about Shadow Stalker?" Taylor asked. She sounded upset.

Gallant got up from the console. "Taylor. Calm down. She broke her probation. She's in juvie."

"Yeah. Bullied some kid, probably using her powers. Aegis saw the file, said it wasn't pretty," Dennis said. Taylor froze.

Miss Militia turned to talk to the Wards. "Everyone. Please. Taylor is the one Shadow Stalker targeted. The last incident triggered her."

Dennis looked embarrassed. "Foot. Mouth. Again. Sorry, Taylor."

Taylor drew a few deep breaths. "Okay. It's fine. She still gets under my skin."

"I know what you mean," Vista muttered.

"So? Are you joining?" Chris asked.

Taylor thought for a moment. "Umm. Haven't decided yet. I mean, PRT dropped the ball with Shadow Stalker, and I'm not really liking them at the moment. But you guys are OK, and Miss Militia is nice, so I suppose it's not all bad. Give me more time, OK? I'll decide later. So do you want to show me around, or what?"

"Chris, Browbeat, your patrol starts in fifteen. The rest of you can show Taylor around," Aegis said. Then he took off his helmet, nodding to Taylor. "Carlos. Mind if we shake hands?" Carlos was of Puerto Rican descent, about the same size as Dennis, although over a year older than him.

Taylor hesitated. Her power added improvements in her template, and Aegis' power messed with his anatomy and physiology. "Umm. Does your power alter your genes? Because mine picks up improvements to my genetic template from the people I touch, and I have no idea how it'd react to touching you."

"Ah. Right. My power does change my genes, otherwise my immune system would start attacking everything. If you join, though, we'll have to figure this out. Perhaps in a more controlled environment?"

Taylor smiled a little. "Sure." She then turned to others. "So what do you have here?"

Browbeat turned to Chris. "C'mon. We better go." Then he nodded to Taylor and walked out the door. Chris glanced apologetically at Taylor, shrugged and walked after Browbeat, donning his helmet on the way.


	3. Decisions

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Decisions**

 **Director Costa-Brown's office**

"A potential Class S threat?"

"Yes, Director. Mrs. Yamada left her report yesterday and it was immediately flagged by Dragon. From there it went to our Thinkers with the highest priority. It isn't good, Director. Almost certainly uncontainable already, very likely immortal in all ways that matter."

"I see she's been codenamed Swarm. Bug transformations and mass absorption. Enormous potential for extinction level event, should she lose control or go insane. What did Doctor Yamada recommend?"

"Close observation and our best efforts to recruit her. Regular high-priority mental health checkups and therapy, preferably by her, or at least by someone who can bond with her and gets to know her."

"Unusual but not impossible. Have our Thinkers or Tinkers figured out detection methods already? If so, any chance on targeted disposal methods?"

"Thinkers give a fairly good chance for a way to detect her. Almost no chance for disposal methods to emerge. Disposal would almost certainly kill us all."

"Fine. That's all."

Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown, the head of Parahuman Response Team, frowned. She was an imposing woman, tall and muscular. She extruded and aura of command. She extended a finger. "Dragon," she commanded. After a few seconds, a female voice came from the hidden speakers and a computer-generated female face floated on top of her desk. "Chief Director?"

"Dragon, I want as much surveillance on this Swarm as you can offer discreetly. And try to figure out a way to detect her spread."

"Certainly. Her name's Taylor, by the way. Her trigger-"

"I'll read about it later. We need that surveillance and analysis as of yesterday, understand? You can do this?"

"Absolutely. I'll tap Brockton Bay cameras, microphones and all the possible phones she could have access to as an initial measure. I should have something more comprehensive online tomorrow or the day after that."

"Thank you," Costa-Brown said and disconnected the call. She rose from her chair and walked around her table.

"Door."

A rectangular hole opened in the air in front of the actual door. On the other side was a short neutrally white corridor terminating in a normal door. Chief Director walked to the door and the hole in the fabric of reality behind her closed. The door in front of her opened just as she was about to reach for it. On the other side was a rather normal-looking office. Behind a desk sat a dark-skinned woman dressed like a doctor, looking at Costa-Brown over her steepled fingers.

Another woman had opened the door. She wore a sharp black business suit and her face didn't betray any emotion whatsoever. Chief Director didn't seem to pay her any attention as she strode towards the desk.

"Alexandria," said the woman on the other side of the desk.

"Does this change anything? She could be worse than the first one!"

The woman in the suit walked to stand behind the shoulder of the other woman. "The Path is shorter, now. But the risks are greater. She could be a tremendous asset."

"See? You can calm down. Just proceed as you have been advised to do. We'll keep you informed if something needs to change."

It was a clear dismissal. Costa-Brown seemed to want to argue for a moment but then decided not to. She turned around and strode out of the room. As she stepped over the threshold a hole back to her office opened. She stepped in and walked around her desk and sat down. Then she buried her face in her hands. A moment later she lifted her head, now composed again and extended her finger. "Director Piggot."

Back in the other office the woman dressed as a doctor looked at the one in the suit. "So we can use this Hebert girl?"

"Not directly. We leave her be and move our pieces around her. They, in turn, affect her."

"And if it goes sour? Can we stop her?"

"The Path is a long one, but yes. We would need to ameliorate the effect her destruction would have on the ecosystem. Getting that in place would take time. Still, I don't see the need at this time."

 **Hebert's**

Miss Militia sat in an armchair in the Hebert's living room. Taylor sat on the sofa, legs on the coffee table.

"What should I do? I can't exactly call the cops without outing myself. And I suppose it is an invasion of privacy, so possibly not legal," Taylor said.

"You're not the only one wrestling with that problem, Taylor," Miss Militia responded. "You can reveal those things legally to police only if you're part of the Protectorate, PRT, or the Wards. Invasion of privacy with parahuman abilities is a rather serious crime, although very difficult to prove - unless you go and tell the police that you did it. Currently you're protected by the fact that you're a candidate for Wards and haven't broken any laws."

"But he's hurting her!"

"So work around it. Pass the house when he's at it. Go ask for something. Put your human body in place so that you could, so that you can, hear what's happening inside. Then you can call the police without revealing yourself. But really, it would just be easier if you joined the Wards."

 **Following day**

Taylor grimaced and limped to the green front door. Her ankle shot arrows of intense pain into her brain. Breaking it hadn't been fun. She had had to try three times. She was about to know when she heard a raised voice inside. Two dull thuds and a cry of pain. She knocked on the door.

Taylor heard muted swearing inside. She had pulled herself out of the house to make her reactions as true as possible. Stomping came closer and then the door was violently pulled open. In the doorway stood a large man. He was wearing a dress shirt and suit pants.

"What?!" Asked the man angrily. He hadn't noticed the pain on Taylor's face or didn't care.

"Sir, I sprained my ankle or something. Could I use your phone to call my dad?"

"Where's your cell, girl?" The man asked, still quite hostile.

"I don't have one. My dad doesn't approve of them," Taylor explained, shaking her head.

The man grumbled something. "Fine. Here," he said and handed her his cell. "You can sit there waiting for your ride." He tilted his head towards a wicker chair on the porch.

As Taylor turned to limp to the chair the sirens went off. A single long blast, followed by an announcement. "An Endbringer attack is ongoing. Simurgh is attacking Canberra. Please stay calm and wait for more information."

Taylor sighed and sat down in the chair. She called her father to pick her up. No point in going through with this now, and it would probably be a bad idea to try this again later.

 **That night at Hebert's**

No direct video or audio even in the news. Simurgh was the one Endbringer that warranted extra caution. The fight wasn't especially long. With Endbringers they never were. Prolonging them, even for the sake of safety, was out of the question.

"Dad, I should be there," Taylor said watching the news.

Danny was shaking his head. "No you shouldn't. I don't think they even take Wards to fight the Simurgh."

"Next time it won't be Simurgh. Dad, I need to help. And it's not like I'll die."

"You don't know that, Taylor. Not for sure."

Taylor bit her lip. "I don't see how I could die, dad. There's nothing special about this part of my mass. Or any other part, that I can tell."

They shared a silence. It wasn't comfortable.

"Dad, I'm joining the Wards. I'll call Miss Militia tomorrow."

 **The next day**

Miss Militia answered the phone late the next night. "Taylor, what's up? Why are you calling this late?"

"Uh, right, sorry. I just remembered you telling that you don't really sleep, and I don't sleep, and," Taylor drew a deep breath, "and I want to join. The Wards. Obviously the Wards. Uhh. Gonna shut up now."

"Taylor, it's OK. What happened? Why do you want to join now?"

"Simurgh. No, I mean the Endbringers, all of them. I want to… no, I need to help. I felt so guilty when I wasn't there. Not that I could have done much, but still."

"And what does your father think?"

"He's all for me joining the Wards. He just doesn't want me involved with the Endbringers, but -"

"- But nothing, Taylor. He's still your father and we don't take Wards into Endbringer situations without parent's consent. You're welcome to join the Wards but you need to follow the same rules as everyone else."

 **PRT East-North-East HQ**

"The Hebert girl wants to join the Wards. Yes, I understand. Miss Militia's reports have been filed and should be available," Director Piggot said to the phone. She was perhaps an inch or two under average height and rather obese. She was dressed in a well-fitting navy blue jacket and a matching skirt.

"What?" she asked, looking stunned.

"I said that you either ask Panacea to heal you or I will find someone else to take care of the Hebert situation. You are under enough stress already even without her with your kidneys the way they are. Add the girl into the mix and you're likely to burn out within the year. We can't afford that. So either you get yourself healed or I'll find a replacement," said the female voice on the other end of the call.

"Chief Director, I-"

"You nothing, Emily. The situation is dire enough for me to bend the rules. I'd rather face whatever disciplinary action they throw at me for this than see the girl devour the world."

The call ended. Emily Piggot seemed distressed for a moment, then schooled her features to her usual stern visage. She pressed a button on her desk. Few seconds later Miss Militia entered with Taylor.

"Director Piggot, this is Taylor Hebert. Taylor, this is Director Emily Piggot."

Taylor stepped forward and offered her hand to the Director. Emily extended her own hand and found Taylor's shake pleasantly firm. Taylor was tall and fit, especially in comparison with the Director. She was dressed in a pale yellow sweater and khaki cargo pants.

The girl's face had gone a little pale and she looked concerned. Emily knew what she must have sensed when they had touched. She decided to ignore it.

"Taylor, I understand you want to join the Wards. I've read quite a bit about you. Miss Militia speaks highly of you and you've managed to gain the approval of the other Wards. Doctor Yamada approves as well. How do you think you can contribute?"

Taylor seemed to be taken aback a little. "I think," she started, "I'm best suited to be support. I mean, sure, I can be on the front lines, I don't think I can be really, seriously, hurt. I see and hear, well, everywhere I am. With the right combination of bug-selves I can sense better than humans can. I can carry messages fast, and can sort of teleport to anywhere where I have enough mass. Currently only here in Brockton Bay and in New York, though. And only one place in New York, I haven't really increased my mass that much over there."

Director Piggot was silent for a while. "Our thinkers agree, although they estimate your frontline effectiveness to be quite much higher than you give yourself credit for. Especially as a swarm of bugs. Those can be venomous, I assume?"

Taylor looked a little shocked. "Sure, of course. As far as I understand, as long as it's an arthropod I can have as many as my mass allows. As long as I have touched a live specimen, I mean."

"Don't misunderstand me, Miss Hebert. I'm not advocating hurting anyone. I'm saying that you can support and protect others. And there are parahumans who can take whatever you can become that can bite or sting. But ask first, then sting if you think it's necessary and will work."

"Yes, Director Piggot. I can also shapeshift, although I don't think that's very useful. My transformations have to be living animals, nothing special about them, although they could intimidate some of the less physical parahumans. But I can also transform into people, although I need to stay in contact with the person I'm transforming into to maintain the form. If I lose the contact the form is… Optimized, I guess? It changes to the optimal gene expression allowed by my human template, retaining the genetic material from the other person that my power considers unimportant."

"I'll keep that in mind. Our Thinkers raised an interesting possibility. You can transform into spiders. Could you produce spider silk? In large quantities? That would be extremely valuable to us."

"I don't see why not. Funny how I didn't think of that. I could probably make my own costume out of that stuff."

"Why bother? I understand your transformation doesn't include your clothes." Director Piggot seemed a bit distracted. "I guess we can go through the rest of the stuff our Thinkers thought up later. For now I need you to go through our Operations Manual and familiarize yourself with Parahuman Law. I've marked the sections relating to the use of parahuman abilities in matters regarding non-parahumans. The red tabs are for laws regarding use of extrasensory perception such as clairvoyance and telepresence. Those apply to you too. You'll have to also attend Parahumans 101. The rest of the Parahumans courses are optional. Any questions?"

"No, Director, not right now."

"Then sign these. Miss Militia will acquire your father's signatures later. Thank you for joining, Miss Hebert."

 **Wards ENE HQ**

"Swarm?" Taylor suggested. She was sitting on a sofa, her feet propped up on a recliner.

"Dark side. Definitely dark side," said Chris.

"Bugshift?"

"Um, no. Bugshit is not a good name," Dennis laughed.

"Oh, right. Chrysalis?"

"That's not bad. But why?" Missy asked.

"Metamorphosis. Change. And pupa didn't sound as cool."

"Actually, why go with bug theme at all? Just pick something related to shapeshifting," Aegis suggested.

Miss Militia turned to Taylor. "That's actually a good point. We might want to downplay your bug connection as much as possible. No point in revealing your abilities outright."

"I don't know how I'd manage that. My clothes don't transform with me. The butterfly trick is sort of slow for real world application."

"How about Flutter?" Dennis suggested.

"What? Why?"

"It's a collective noun for butterflies. You walk in, do the butterfly bit and walk out as a dog or a wolf or something."

"That's… Not bad. Cutesy, misleading and embarrassing as heck for the villains I beat."

 **Protectorate East-North-East HQ**

Taylor looked at the converted rig floating on the Bay. It was the local headquarters for the Protectorate, protected by a powerful shield. Miss Militia was with her in the helicopter. As soon as they landed she led her inside, navigating to a conference room where the local Protectorate members waited, sitting around a table.

"Taylor, meet the local Protectorate team. You probably know all the members," said Miss Militia. She sat down, lowering her scarf around her neck.

The rest of the team were in their costumes.

Armsmaster stepped forward and took her hand. Safe to shake wearing the armor. "Flutter, right?"

"Right, although without the costume I'm still just Taylor," she said, proud that there was only a slight tremor in her voice.

"I hear your bugs are going to work in information gathering and surveillance. Would you mind if I made you a visor with a complete communications suite?"

"Um, sure, I'd be honored. But it's me, I mean I'm the bugs. I'm not a Master, as such."

"So where are you right now?" Assault grinned and asked.

"Here in Brockton Bay I am now spread out pretty much everywhere, and I'm also in the Bay. I'm also pretty far in the surrounding countryside. I hitched a ride to New York some time ago, but I'm pretty localized there. I'm also in small pockets around the Americas, mostly just to find new bugs and animals to touch. I don't sleep, so I spend many nights flying around as a bird and leaving myself wherever looks suitable."

"How many bugs are we talking about?" asked Dauntless.

"Umm, at the moment? About a trillion and a half."

There was a moment of silence and then a muffled exclamation from Armsmaster's direction. "That means that you weigh at least four thousand tons!"

"That sounds possible. But only a tiny fraction of it is actually useful. Where I am I have taken over the duties of natural arthropods and can't just pull them out to do whatever. Here in Brockton Bay I have higher density, so I have a little leeway - but I still have only a ton or two extra to use as I see fit unless I want to risk destabilizing the ecosystem."

There was another silence. "And you can sense everywhere you are? With all of the arthropods?" asked Armsmaster.

"Sure. Depends on their senses, though. I have to use combinations of bugs to see and hear so that it's comparable to human senses, and I have access to some senses that we humans just don't have."

"So you're telling us that you see and hear all of Brockton Bay, part of New York and random spots in Americas all at once?"

Taylor was quiet for a while, a bit confused. "Sure. I mean I'm there and those parts of me have senses. Why?"

"You've read Parahuman Law, I hope?"

"Sure, I'm ignoring most of the private residences. And I'm waiting until I'm on console duty to report on any crimes. And I'm not attempting to actively discover people's identities, although it seems to happen regularly even if I don't do anything. That said, I wish there was a way for me to communicate many things simultaneously. Having only one mouth is inconvenient, and forming shapes with my bug-selves is slow if I want to form letters to tell anything. There's three robberies, two hold-ups, one assault and what appears to be a break-in and a few other things going on right now that I can sense. There's always something going on, but I can't communicate it all at once. It's frustrating."

Another silence. "I think we can figure out something. Were all those crimes happening in public? Not on private properties?"

"Yes. You don't want to know what happens in people's homes. Sadly I have to unless I want to keep myself out. And I can't do that without… Wait. Damn. I don't have to fill the hole I leave in the ecosystem if I get rid of the bugs in people's homes. Not really. There just wouldn't be any. It really doesn't matter if there are no bugs - humans are a minuscule and mostly unimportant part of arthropod ecosystem."

 **PRT ENE HQ**

"I'm going with a butterfly theme, so I want bright colors. Iridescent, if possible, Miss Strafe." Taylor was talking with a middle-aged woman. The woman was dressed sharply: a gray suit jacket, skirt of same color, white dress shirt under the jacket. It all seemed to accentuate her shape well.

"I think we can do that. Does the costume need protective features?"

"Not really. If you choose to incorporate any, they can be for deception. I don't really need any."

"Loose or tight?"

"Loose fit, please. I need to be able to dress and undress quickly."

Miss Strafe rose one eyebrow at that but chose not to comment. "And your head? What kind of visor or helmet do you want?"

"Umm, I think a hood will suffice. Armsmaster said he'd make my visor."

Miss Strafe's eyebrow rose again. "I suppose that's all I need for the first drafts."

 **Wards ENE HQ**

"So are you ready? Dennis?"

"Ready. Go whenever."

Taylor, dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants, reached out and touched Carlos' arm.

"Huh. That's new."

"What?" Carlos asked.

"My power seems to think you're your own species. I got a new template for you. Umm, crap. You're not going to like what this means."

"What?" There was a bit of annoyance and trepidation in Carlos' voice.

"Do you know the classic definition of species? Well, your genome is different enough that, at least to my power, you don't count as human anymore."

Carlos processed this for a while. "I'm sterile?"

"Well, not as such, and I don't even know if your changes affect your germline. It's just-"

"That I'm the only one of my species. Awesome."

"Well, not necessarily the only one, and there's always Panacea."

"Whoa, slow down there. Did you really just say you'd breed with Carlos?" Dennis asked with a smirk.

Taylor turned scarlet. "I- no- I mean… That's not what I meant!"

Carlos was obviously holding back, trying to suppress laughter. And failing.

 **PRT ENE HQ, April 3rd**

They were waiting in the adjacent room to the conference room where Director Piggot was speaking about the current state of parahuman affairs in Brockton Bay. At the end of that speech she would announce Flutter joining the Wards and Taylor would walk in in her costume.

"So I just walk over there, say my thing, do my transformations and come back here? Should I pick up my costume when I come, or just leave it there?"

"There's a small trapdoor for your costume. We don't want the bit about you being naked on the stage to come out either," said Armsmaster. Miss Militia hit him on the shoulder, having learned early on not to try elbowing someone in a power armor.

"Great, right. I try to do the release and absorption of the butterflies so that the cameras don't pick it up. Was there something else?" Taylor was very nervous at this point. Director Piggot was almost done with her speech.

"No, I think you'll do fine. Just remember, you are masked, no one is going to know who you really are. Go impress them, Taylor," said Miss Militia.

Taylor drew a deep breath and started walking to the podium as Director Piggot was finishing. "... It is my great pleasure to announce a new Ward today. Ah, here she comes." Director turned to watch Taylor approach and stepped away to give her room on the podium.

Taylor looked impressive. She was over six feet tall, had a build that suggested plenty of physical activity but wasn't born in a gym. She moved with unusual grace. Her costume was iridescent blue similar to that of a Blue Morpho butterfly. It was accentuated with green similar to that of an Emerald Swallowtail on her cuffs and legs. Her boots and gloves were the same green. While the costume was not skin-tight it did conform to her shape rather nicely. There were butterflies flying above her head in a halo, and she seemed to wear a cape of blue and green butterflies. She wore a blue hood with a simple black visor covering the top of her face.

Taylor walked to the podium, shook Director's hand and turned towards the crowd. There was a short silence as everyone waited. "Hi. My name is Flutter." As she introduced herself she lifted her hand palm up and two butterflies descended from her halo to rest on it.

"I haven't been active very long, just practicing using my powers, not making the news. When I saw Simurgh on the news I felt that I could help. The first step was to apply for the Wards and Director Piggot and Miss Militia were kind enough to take me in." The butterflies flew back up to the halo.

"What can you do? How are butterflies going to help against Endbringers?" Asked a reporter from the second row.

"I'm glad you asked. Here's what I do - and my dramatic exit," Flutter said and took a step back and away from the podium. Then all the butterflies, including the ones forming her cape, flew out and back, starting to fly around her. There were so many that she was totally blocked from view. This lasted for about half a minute and then the butterflies started to disappear. Through them the audience saw a wolf staring back at them. It's tongue lolled out in a wolfish grin and butterflies returned. Another half minute later they disappeared entirely and a gorilla waved at the people before moving out of the room.

Once Flutter was out of the room she went to the HQ as the gorilla, transformed, and dressed in her spare costume. Then she walked back out towards the room next to the conference room where the afterparty with important non-cape, non-PRT people in attendance.

Getting the extra mass smuggled into the conference room and out of the Wards HQ was surprisingly easy. The raised platform of the conference room had accesses for wiring and other stuff, large enough for her fastest bugs to traverse in the time allotted. The vents in HQ allowed her bugs access out.

Flutter walked into the party and was immediately surrounded by people introducing themselves. She shook hands, smiled, and despaired inside. Then Miss Militia was there, and she got a short reprieve before everything started again. This time it was more orderly and polite. Miss Militia's presence was intimidating enough to thwart most of the enthusiasm.


	4. Progress

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Wards ENE HQ**

Armsmaster was supervising the installation of two new console systems. Twice he asked the technicians to re-attach a panel, without explanation as to why. The installation took about half an hour. Then Armsmaster ran diagnostics for ten minutes.

"Taylor, it's ready. Test it," Armsmaster said. It was a shade shy of being a command.

Taylor nodded and went into the new consoles. Inside were stalls for bugs. In each stall was a microswitch designed to be pressed by a bug.

Taylor looked at the monitors displaying her what she was writing. "Uh, OK, this might take a while to learn. It's like touch typing but with hundreds of fingers."

"So get to it. You're on console duty until further notice. Well, your bug-parts are. You still need to patrol in your human self for publicity. That's not a problem, is it?"

"No. I'm good, sir."

Armsmaster nodded and walked out of the common room towards Kid Win's workshop.

Taylor glanced at the newly-installed terrarium. It was much smaller than the ones installed in what would have been her room here. In addition, she had a huge workshop where she weaved her spider-silk fabric. After she had talked with Director Piggot about the spiders she had read up on their silk. She thought she could probably weave the silk directly into garments. Currently, she was just producing long lines of silk and the PRT Thinkers and Tinkers were processing it to make cloth, thread, and rope.

Apparently, the availability of spider-silk in a significant quantity and quality was a big thing. In addition to her usual Ward income, she got a commission for the silk. The going rate was ridiculous. She'd be a millionaire by next year. And it would still be cheaper for the PRT than their previous body armor. If she really could weave cloth it would eliminate one more step and help even more.

* * *

Flutter threw a punch, hitting Aegis solidly in the chest. Aegis flew back almost ten feet, catching himself before falling down. "Wow, that's some punch."

Flutter looked at him and tilted his head, clearly wondering about something. Then he loped forward, straightened himself to two feet, caught Aegis's feet and slammed him down on the gym floor. The sound was thundering and he heard something cracking.

"Okay, ouch. I'm calling quits," Clockblocker said from where he was standing next to the door. "That sounded like Aegis's spine, or perhaps his skull. He can take it but we need Panacea to heal it."

Flutter looked at Clockblocker and shrugged. The mannerism looked somehow wrong coming from a 550-pound gorilla. Flutter bent down and forward so that he could knuckle-walk back to the dressing room adjacent to the gym. Clockblocker walked to Aegis who was still prone.

Aegis turned his head to look at approaching Clockblocker. "Ouch indeed. I think it was my skull, it feels a bit mushy back there."

"Give me a sec, will you?" Clockblocker said and bent down to check on Aegis's head. "Yup, caved in the back of your head, alright. Can you move? Does everything work?"

"I feel fine, except for, you know, having my skull crushed. I was blind for a bit there before my power rerouted those bits. I'm going to need Panacea if I don't want to stay here for the foreseeable future. No way to hide this injury or to claim it as minor," Aegis grimaced while he carefully rose up to a sitting position.

Taylor ran back into the gym, still fixing her clothes. "Aegis, are you alright? Sorry, I locked up, that sounded horrible."

Aegis looked at her and smiled. "I'm OK, that's the whole point of my power. We're good, Taylor. I just hate to bother Panacea."

They walked back to the common room. Aegis unmasked and took out his phone. He dialed and soon was connected with Panacea. "Hi, Panacea. It's Aegis."

"Aegis. What's wrong?"

"Umm. I, uh, had a small training accident. The back of my skull's cracked. I'm fine, but it's a dead giveaway about my cape status. Could you come check it out?"

A short silence. "Sure. I can be there in an hour. Is that OK?"

Relief. "Sure, that's fine. Thanks."

* * *

Panacea arrived almost exactly an hour later. She was garbed in her cape outfit - a flowing white robe with a red medical cross on the front and back. Carlos, Taylor, and Dennis stepped closer to welcome her.

"Panacea. This is Taylor. You may remember her from school. She's Flutter," Carlos greeted.

"Hi Amy," Taylor said, suppressing her habit of offering her hand just in time. "I, uh, am the one to blame for Carlos's injury. I really didn't realize how strong gorillas are."

"Right. Shapechanger," Panacea said, looking at Taylor intensely for a moment. "Do your injuries heal when you change shape?"

"Yes, the new form is always in perfect health after the change. Why?"

"Ah. Then I won't need to heal you. Sort of a relief, I suppose," Panacea said. She turned to Carlos. "May I?"

"Of course, go ahead."

"Hmm. Some new upgrades since the last time, I see. Your nervous system seems to have adapted to avoid the damaged parts of your brain. You have a complex skull fracture, nerve damage, several bruises, cracked sternum and a heart contusion. May I heal you?"

"Please."

Taylor watched with interest as Carlos's skull took its usual shape. After a few more moments when she saw Panacea let go of Carlos's hand she touched his shoulder. She sensed his that he'd been fully healed, using some of his mass to fuel the healing. She also felt her Aegis template change.

"You're going to be a bit hungrier than usual today, perhaps tomorrow too. Eat until you're not hungry, you need it to replace the stores I had to use to heal you," Panacea said. Then she turned to Dennis. "Do you want a checkup?"

"Sure, can't hurt, right?"

Panacea reached out and took his hand. "Stress levels a bit higher than normal, some accumulated effects suggesting prolonged state. Any special stressors? I also see a heightened chance for malignant tumor growth in your genome. I can fix both the cumulative effects and the genes if you want."

Dennis looked surprised, then stricken, angry, and finally crestfallen. "Uh. Uh, sure. Please." He chewed his lower lip, thinking about something. "Umm, Panacea, would you mind… Uhh. Sorry. I know you don't take requests, but my dad. He's sick. Leukemia."

Panacea hesitated a moment. "I suppose it would help with your stress and make you better able to perform your duties." She suddenly turned to leave. "Come, we better do this right away, before I change my mind."

* * *

 **Amy**

Amy Dallon walked towards Central Hospital. Another night of oppressive guilt, restlessness and inability to sleep. She wondered if even these night visits would matter. She couldn't tell anymore.

A tall figure stepped out of an alley and strode towards her. For a moment Amy was worried and then she recognized the girl. Taylor, she thought. What was she doing out this late?

"Amy? Why are you out this late? Again?" Taylor asked.

Amy froze. "How? Why?"

"Ahh, umm, sorry about this, but I've been tracking all the notable capes for a while. A precaution, if you will."

"What? Why? How?" Amy felt confused.

"Ah, right. Of course, you don't know, I've been avoiding you," the girl said and offered her hand to shake.

Still reeling, Amy took her hand. Immediately she noted that the girl was indeed a parahuman. Then she felt Flutter's power, saw how it took in all of her, made a few simple adjustments in Taylor's anatomy, physiology, and genome. She pulled out her hand and gasped, took a step back. "What?"

"Right. Sorry, I still tend to forget to ask permission. I have touch-range biometric power and automatic autobiokinesis," Taylor explained sheepishly.

"That said, you really should care more for yourself, Amy. Your stress levels are very high, and you're exhausted. This is the third time this week you're out to a hospital at night this week. What's up?"

"I -" Amy started. She stopped. Everything was too much. She couldn't explain. It was all wrong, and now someone knew. She broke down, fell on her knees and started sobbing.

Then Taylor was there, hugging her. At first she froze, not knowing what to do. But their powers were working almost in sync, reassuring her that Taylor could really see her, that Taylor really was concerned and wanted to help. She relaxed into the hug and let herself cry. It was a relief. There was no judgment here, at least not yet.

About fifteen minutes later Amy's sobbing subsided. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Anytime, Amy. You ready to head home? You really should get some sleep."

Amy flinched, and because she was still touching Taylor she'd notice it too. "I suppose so."

Taylor was watching her, clearly thinking about something. "If you don't want to go home, you could always come to my place. I don't sleep, so you can use my bed if you want to."

Amy thought for a moment. Right now it did seem a lot better than the prospect of returning home. "Uh, sure. How are we going to get there?"

Taylor grinned. "Can you ride? Because I can be a pony."

* * *

The ride to Taylor's place was exhilarating, both terrifying and enjoyable. Taylor had walked back to the alley, stripped and transformed. She had shown no shame as she stripped, had just asked Amy to keep her clothes safe. Then bugs, mostly night-flying butterflies and moths, had started arriving and flying straight into Taylor. The transformation wasn't pretty but it wasn't nightmare fuel either. The result was a beautiful pony.

Amy had been surprised when she touched the pony. Her power went through her, telling her that she was in the prime of her health, just like Taylor had been. Then she climbed on and Taylor took off.

At first Taylor went at an easy pace, making sure that Amy stayed on. As soon as she felt that Amy was stable she increased the pace. The cycle repeated a couple of times until Amy was sure that Taylor couldn't possibly keep up the pace all the way to her place. Except that her power told her otherwise. Taylor was recycling mass as she ran, sucking in new bugs and transforming them to reserves while releasing other bugs to keep her mass stable. Amy thought it was cheating, plain and simple. Which was pretty much the definition of all the powers, her own included.

Taylor's house was a bit old and could do with a few minor repairs and a coat of paint but it looked otherwise well-maintained, and, well, homey.

They went in through the back and Taylor told her to be sort of quiet, her father was sleeping upstairs. They camped in the living room.

"So what now?" Amy asked.

"Girl talk? Or cape talk? We could play something, I have a deck of cards right over there," Taylor said and pointed on one of the shelves without looking. There was a large dragonfly next to a deck of cards where she pointed at.

"A dragonfly?" Amy asked.

"Right. They have excellent sight, so I use them a lot. Want to take a closer look?"

"Yes," Amy said. She was looking at the dragonfly on the shelf, expecting it to move, and was a bit startled to feel Taylor poke her. She turned to look questioningly.

"Here," Taylor said, turning her hand palm up. Her flesh rippled and puckered forming a dragonfly that soon separated from her and took flight towards Amy.

Amy watched the process with interest. When the dragonfly was ready she put her own palm parallel to Taylor's so that it could fly to her hand. The bug felt normal. She focused and tried to find something that would tell her that it wasn't a natural one. After a few seconds, she spotted something in its nervous system and then found it in its genome as well. A small cluster reminiscent of Corona Pollentia.

"Taylor, could you make me another bug? Something small, like a flea?"

Taylor shrugged and produced a flea. "Sure," she said, offering it to Amy.

The same structures were present in the flea. She thought about how many bugs formed Taylor and shuddered. It really seemed like she was the whole swarm.

Taylor watched with some amusement as Amy examined her. She was a bit surprised when Amy did a small change to her flea-self because the change was immediately applied to her flea template.

"What did you do? No, wait, I see now. You enhanced its senses and nervous system at the expense of energy consumption. It has to eat almost twice as much now. Could you also curb its procreative ability so that the population stays within the newly increased appetite?"

Amy was a little shocked and surprised that Taylor picked up on what she had done so quickly.

"Uhh, why?"

"Because what you just did affected my flea template. All the fleas I am are based on it. I just hope my power thinks that curbing the procreation of the fleas is an improvement or it won't take hold in the template."

Amy still didn't quite understand, but she did the requested change.

"Damn. Nope, apparently my power thinks more is better. Oh well, I guess I have to keep an eye on my flea populations." Taylor pondered for a moment. "Although, I suppose that running out of food and a natural increase in predator population will work just as well. We'll have to see." Her Wards-issue phone rang.

"Flutter."

The voice on the phone was familiar. "Taylor, this is Dragon. You are aware that we're surveilling you?"

"Obviously. Why the call?"

"Something happened to your flea-selves and it has some important people very worried. Please tell Panacea to stop modifying you."

"It was entirely unintentional. Won't happen again without permission."

"Good. Uhh, I'd like to talk you, soon, if you don't mind? I'll send you the info on that soon."

"Umm, sure. If you want."

"We'll talk soon. Good night."

"Good night."

Amy watched the call with bemused interest. "So who was that?"

"Dragon. She suggested we don't play around with my templates unless we get permission. Some higher-ups are worried."

Amy blanched a little. "You're being monitored?"

"Sure. I found it a bit disconcerting when I found out but it makes sense. I'm potentially very bad news. I'm sure they keep a close eye on you too. Who's your therapist?"

Amy stared blankly at her. "Therapist?"

Taylor blinked. "You're telling me you don't have one? Isn't that sort of reckless?"

Amy opened her mouth to answer and closed it before saying anything. It made sense. It made a lot of sense. Why hadn't she, or her family, thought of that? Dad, after all, had one, although he didn't seem to benefit from his much.

"Umm, you wouldn't happen to have a recommendation? I think it might be a good idea for me to try it out. It doesn't really work for my dad but I suppose it can work for others."

"Your dad?"

"Err, it's sort of a secret, I suppose, so don't tell anyone, but dad is really depressed. He can hardly do anything, although he seems to rally when it's about cape stuff. It's really hard sometimes," Amy said, her voice quivering towards the end and liquid pooling on her eyelid.

"Umm, I'm sorry if this is rude, but why don't you help him? Adjust his chemistry a little, the way drugs do? I mean, I get that depression isn't all physical, but that should help, right?"

Amy's eyes had widened and she shook a little, shaking her head.

"I can't do brains," she stuttered.

Taylor looked dumbstruck. "You're kidding me."

Amy sobbed a few times and Taylor scuttled over to her and held her. "I mean, I won't do brains. Too many things could go wrong. So it's my fault he's sick, because I'm a coward afraid of her own powers! And I can never do enough to balance that out, never!" Now she was wailing in earnest, having trouble breathing, tears and snot flowing freely.

The ruckus woke up Danny and he threw on a bathrobe and headed downstairs. He saw Taylor looking up at him, her eyes pleading for him not to interrupt. She was cradling a crying girl in her arms. Danny nodded to his daughter and took the stairs back to his room, a sad smile on his face. He'd hear all about it tomorrow.

"Vicky, it's OK. I'm at a friend's place," Amy tried to calm her sister. Taylor had woken her up just after six, handing her her phone.

"Where are you, Ames? I can come pick you up. Mom's furious."

Amy squeezed the phone so hard that her knuckles popped. "Uh, I'm at Taylor's. I'm fine, Vicky, really. I just can't deal with Mom right now. I might stay here a couple of days to figure things out." She glanced at Taylor who nodded.

"What?! Amy, you can't do that! Listen, just tell me where Taylor lives and I'll come pick you up and we'll talk about it. You can't just disappear like this!"

Amy squeezed her eyes tightly shut. "Vicky, please. I'm not coming back, so just forget about it. You're welcome to come see me, but I want to stay here for a while. Actually, it would be great if you could bring me some of my things if you are coming over."

* * *

An hour later Victoria Dallon landed on the front porch, carrying a sports bag. She looked at the house, clearly wondering what her sister was doing here. She walked in front of the door and knocked on it. Her inner turmoil was somewhat apparent as her knuckles left indentations on the wood.

Amy ran to the door and Taylor followed more sedately. She watched Amy open the door and freeze, not knowing what to do. Vicky didn't hesitate, though, and stepped inside and hugged Amy. "Are you OK?" Vicky asked.

"I-" Amy started, staggering a bit. "I don't know. Better, I think. Thanks for coming."

"So we can go home, right?"

"No, Vicky, we can't. I want to stay, if only for a night or two. I need to be away from-"

"Away from what, Ames? Away from me? From home? What's up, really?"

"It's not about you, Vicky. Well, at least not only about you. Not even close. It's mom, mostly."

"What about her?" asked Vicky. She sounded genuinely baffled.

Amy threw an incredulous look at her sister. "Really, Vicky? You really have no idea why?"

Vicky hesitated for a moment, her brow furrowing. "I, sure, I mean I know she's not always the nicest to you. But that's normal, right? I mean she's nice to you too, right? And she's been on my case too."

Amy grimaced. "Vicky, I can't remember when was the last time she said something nice to me. Was proud of what I'd done. Thanked me, even. With you, she gives you the benefit of the doubt - or blames me for what you did - but she always assumes I did something wrong when she gets the chance. I mean, sure, she's still Mom, in some way, but I realized a long time ago that she barely tolerates me. So I've been trying to earn her acceptance."

"She's almost burnt out, Victoria. Her stress levels are through the roof and she barely sleeps. Did you know that she's out healing people at least three nights a week? Because she can't handle the guilt of not being able to do more?" Taylor asked.

Vicky glanced at Taylor and then turned an appraising eye to Amy. "I knew that you were out every now and then, and didn't press you on it. I thought you'd tell me if I needed to know. Why didn't you tell me?"

Amy shuffled her feet and looked down. "I just couldn't. I didn't, don't, want your pity. And I didn't want to look weak."

Vicky looked totally nonplussed. "I'd never do that to you, Ames!" She turned to Taylor and asked: "She's OK here, right? With you?"

Taylor looked her in the eye and said: "Sure. It's not a problem for her to stay here for a few nights, or even longer."

Vicky turned to Amy and hugged her. "I need to think about this. And talk to mom. And dad. Don't do anything stupid, Ames. Rest." She released Amy and turned to the door, flying out and away.

"Well. That happened," said Taylor.

"Yeah. Huh. It went better than I thought it would," said Amy, wiping her eyes. "I just hope mom doesn't cause much trouble. Dad will understand. Or won't really care." Her expression saddened with the last words.

"Come on, I'll call Mrs. Yamada and see if she'll take your case."


	5. Conflict

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Docks**

Flutter enjoyed running as a pronghorn. He dodged a car effortlessly, following flying Aegis. He concentrated for a moment, sending him a message.

"Aegis, those ABB thugs just gave way to someone. I'm trying to see who it is," he texted. Armsmaster's text-to-speech system would say it to him in his Taylor voice.

"Keep looking, but make sure they don't spot anything suspicious," Aegis answered.

Flutter flew past the group of ABB members as two dragonflies. "Crap. It's Lung. Give me a moment, I'll try to hear what he's saying. I've alerted Armsmaster."

"Be careful. Is Oni Lee there?"

"Not that I noticed. Should I look for him?"

Aegis hesitated for a moment. "Do it. We don't want him sneaking up on anyone if we have to take action."

Flutter concentrated for a second, changing some parts of his swarm around, making mass available for transformation. His pronghorn-self slowed down and turned to a secluded alley where he stopped. If someone could have seen, and Dragon probably did, they would have noticed tens of thousands of net-casting spiders climb on the walls of the city near ABB territory, and especially near and in the Docks area. Well-lit areas also experienced sudden flights of dragonflies.

"Aegis, I finally hear what Lung's saying. I don't like it, he's talking about taking out kids. About shooting them. We have to do something. Armsmaster says he's at least twenty minutes out, and we can be there in minutes."

"Have you spotted Oni Lee yet?"

"Not yet. Wait, yeah. He's fighting some kind of monsters. Well, more like fleeing from them. There's also a guy in bike leathers and a couple of girls. Umm, right. The Undersiders. Which means that the third one is Regent and not a girl. They're taking out ABB guys and pursuing Lee, sort of. He's teleporting, then one of the girls, Tattletale, I think, points to about where he went and then Hellhound sics her mutant dogs after him. They're probably not gonna catch him, but he should be out of the picture for a while."

The spiders and dragonflies disappeared at this point, absorbed back into the swarm as local insect life.

"Okay, I think we can go delay Lung until Armsmaster and others get there. You ready?" asked Aegis.

"Uh, sure, I think. Gorilla, right?"

"I think so. Go for it."

Flutter had been consolidating himself for transformations, keeping a significant mass of fast insects near him throughout their whole patrol. Now those insects swarmed the pronghorn, completely hiding it from view for a moment. The transformation took almost a minute and after it a massive silverback stood on the alley, holding the harness that the pronghorn had had on it.

Flutter pressed some buttons on the harness and it changed shape, becoming a wide belt that he looped around himself. "Ready. Let's go."

Flutter started running on all fours while Aegis flew overhead. "Keep an eye on them. We don't want to loose them."

"Should I harass them a little with bugs? Or do we want to keep that under wraps?"

"Don't go for it unless absolutely necessary. What's Lung doing?"

"Giving a rousing speech, arranging his troops, all that. They're about ready to move out, but then again, we're there in less than a minute. They probably haven't left by then."

In less than a minute Aegis was hovering a bit away from Lung and his crew. Flutter stood under him.

"Lung, stand down. We know you're going after kids, and can't allow that. Give up now."

Lung looked at Aegis and laughed. "Why should I? You and the ape can't stop me. No one can. I stopped Leviathan."

Aegis shook his head. "Others are coming. Even you can't hope to take out all of us and still get to those kids."

Lung tilted his head, thinking. "If we take you out before they get here, we can go get the kids. Come on then, little boy. We'll see if you can stop me from leaving."

Lung had grown to be nearly seven feet tall already, his steel mask only barely covering his face. His muscles were bulging but he wasn't on fire yet.

"Aegis, can I bug him a little?"

"Go for it, I think we can use all the help we can get."

Suddenly hundreds of dragonflies dived from nearby roofs towards Lung, shapeshifting into spiders, bees, and other venomous insects before hitting him. Flutter went for his eyes, ears, mouth and other soft tissues, stinging and biting. He might have gone a bit overboard.

Lung bellowed and dropped to the ground, doubling over, covering his face and head with his hands. Suddenly he was sheathed in flames and Flutter felt his insect-selves die. Lung roared again and scrambled to his now-clawed feet. He had grown over a foot and his mask was on the side of his face that was now monstrous.

"Uhhuh. Bugs are out, no way I can get them through that fire. And I might have gone a bit overboard with them. We may need the antivenin at some point."

"A bit overboard?" Aegis shouted and dove down to Lung, not bothering to slow down as he rammed him feet first. They both crashed to the ground and Lung managed to grab hold of Aegis's leg. Flutter heard a bone snap and saw Lung throw Aegis against a wall before picking himself up. He had grown again and the flame was stronger.

Lung's minions were mostly frozen, some looking a little green. As Aegis crashed against the wall a few of them cheered, most looked nervously around and at each other and a couple bolted away from the fight. As Aegis turned around and rose to the air, the front of his face caved in but seeming not to care, more turned to run. Minimum safe distance just got far longer.

"I'm OK, your turn. Try not to get killed. I need a moment to reorient."

Lung staggered a bit, his fire weakening for a moment. Flutter took that as an encouraging sign and ran towards him. He threw a punch that Lung deflected with casual disdain. Lung then followed that with a punch of his own, hitting Flutter's shoulder. He felt his clavicle snap with the top two ribs and smelled burnt hair. Lung hit hard. Flutter shook his head and hit Lung in the groin. Lung doubled over again, giving Flutter a chance to deliver a fist to the back of his head.

Lung went down again for a moment. Flutter had sensed his physiology, though, so he knew that Lung would get up. His regeneration was really good with the physical damage, although the various venoms were more trouble, slowing both Lung and his regeneration down. All this insight meant that Flutter kept hitting Lung, even when his fire got hotter. Flutter had shifted a bit already and kept doing so even though it meant losing mass and power. It also allowed him to heal his injuries, especially the burnt parts and the clavicle.

"Flutter, what are you doing?"

"I'm keeping him down. He's regenerating."

Dragonflies started to dive into Flutter as he pounded Lung. He hit mostly his head but Lung refused to lose consciousness. He also grew and his fire was hotter by the second. Flutter guessed that he couldn't really keep Lung down for long and that once he was up he wouldn't go down.

Aegis joined Flutter in keeping Lung down, beating on him without any apparent mercy. He was covered in some kind of fire-retardant goo. Scales began to emerge from Lung. Flutter formed a small swarm of dragonflies. "When I say so, stop hitting him. Make it look like you're preparing something else. I'll let him get up and then when he opens his mouth I'll swarm him."

Soon enough there was a burst of fire from Lung. Flutter's gorilla-self threw himself out of the way and Aegis did the same. Lung pried himself up, shaking his monstrous head. Once he was up he opened his maw and roared. Flutter dived towards to open maw. Dozens of dragonflies were roasted before they even got close, yet others died on contact with the hot scales. Enough, though, got in and transformed into bullet ants and brown recluses, climbing as deep into Lung as possible before biting. After biting they transformed into smaller bugs and headed even deeper, eventually getting into his lungs. Flutter kept an eye on Lung's biometrics to make sure that he didn't accidentally kill the villain.

"Stay away from Lung for a while. He'll go down soon," Flutter messaged Aegis.

The two Wards looked as Lung coughed and spit flame, trying to get rid of the bugs. It was too late, though, many of them were already inside his lungs. Flutter watched as Lung's body was deprived of oxygen and his throat swelled almost shut. As Lung's consciousness began to fade, so did his flames. His transformation began to undo itself.

Ten minutes later Armsmaster arrived on the scene to find Aegis and Flutter sitting their backs against a warehouse wall, watching the street and the prone form that was Lung. Lung was nearly back to his normal size.

"I'm keeping him unconscious by constricting his oxygen supply with bugs whenever he is about to wake up. That regeneration of his is strong, but it's being suppressed in part by the mix of venoms circulating through him. I haven't yet administered the antivenins, in fear of him waking up," Flutter said. She had shifted back into her human form.

Armsmaster looked a little taken aback by Flutter's apparent ruthlessness. He pulled out reinforced cuffs and nodded. "These should hold him. You better administer the antivenin now. Then tell me when it's safe to administer the sedative."

"Yes, sir," Flutter said and pulled out two syringes. She injected the antivenin into an arm vein and followed as it spread throughout Lung's system. When the venom mix was almost neutralized she indicated that Armsmaster could inject the sedative. Then she exited from Lung's mouth and let him resume breathing normally.

"The Undersiders chased Oni Lee back to his hidey-hole and as per orders, I didn't stay to find out where that is. Then they approached us until Tattletale stopped them. A few seconds later they turned around and left."

"How far were they when Tattletale stopped them?" Armsmaster asked.

"Uh, perhaps a block or two away. I guess she could have seen us. Or heard us, but I don't think so."

Armsmaster turned to Aegis. "How are you?"

"As well as I can be. Face caved in, few broken bones. Oh, and I'm covered in a natural fire retardant ooze that pours out of my pores. A visit from Panacea would be great."

"I'll see what we can do, although I think Flutter can get hold of her faster."

Aegis looked at Flutter. "Really?"

Flutter shuffled a bit, then shrugged. "Yeah, she's staying at my place. Temporarily. I guess you could come over if you can be a bit less visible."

"I think we can handle it," said Armsmaster. "PRT vans are five minutes away, they'll give you a lift back to the HQ. Director Piggot wants a debrief, as does Miss Militia and I."

* * *

Director Piggot, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia were waiting for them in the Wards HQ. The Director indicated that they should sit, and then asked: "Well, what happened? Why did you decide to engage?"

Carlos looked at her and she shuddered a little. Even after cleaning up and bandaging the worst injuries he was still quite a sight. The left top quarter of his head had caved in, including the eye, and it was quite apparent even covered in bandages. His left leg was in a hastily applied splint and his left arm was in a sling even though it worked just fine - if you consider mere practicalities. The arm would have been worse than useless without his power as his shoulder blade, clavicle and three topmost ribs on that side were shattered. His power had turned the hand into something resembling a tentacle. In addition he was covered in a thin layer of transparent viscous liquid that was apparently a highly effective fire retardant. There were a few thinkers and tinkers demanding samples.

"I made a field decision to engage Lung to keep him from achieving his target which we believed at the time to be children. Flutter had heard him explain their target to his underlings. We felt it imperative to stop him before he could get to commit these planned crimes."

"At the time?" Miss Militia asked.

"Yes. Flutter heard only the latter part of the speech Lung delivered. We later concluded that Lung actually meant to attack the Undersiders and not some innocent kids, but that was after the engagement."

"We have all of Flutter's communication logs, as well as her statement on file. She completed it on the way back. I assume we can trust you to deliver one as soon as possible as well?" Director Piggot asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, I'm sure you'd like to go see Panacea. I understand that she's staying with you?" The director turned to look at Taylor.

"Yes, ma'am. She's working on some issues and decided that a new environment was required. I'm sure she'll take care of Carlos if he asks nicely."

Director Piggot lifted an eyebrow and nodded. "That's good. Well, I'll let you go get your sleep then. Good night," she said and rose up to leave.

Taylor rose to her feet too. "Can I check up on you? Panacea will probably ask if she healed you right."

The director stopped and then nodded slowly. "Go ahead. I feel fine. Actually, I haven't felt this good in years. I've even lost quite a bit of weight. I can run again. Well, I try to. It's more of a wobble still."

Taylor reached out and took her hand. "There're some physical stress and some of the connective tissues on your leg muscles show early signs of inflammation. I suggest you take it a bit easier on yourself, or better yet, get a professional trainer to work with you. On the whole, though, it seems that Panacea's work has paid off. You're as healthy as you can be with hundred or so pounds of extra weight."

Armsmaster watched over the exchange with some interest. "I can make you an exercise program if you want one, Director. I have had some success designing them."

Director Piggot turned to face Armsmaster. "Ah. True. I'd appreciate that. Thank you, Armsmaster."

* * *

They jumped out of the civilian van and Taylor pulled Carlos with her to the house. "Watch out for that step, it's rotten." The van left as they stepped to the door, Taylor going through her pockets to find her keys. Then she stopped and waited for a few seconds. Carlos heard steps inside and then the door opened. Amy Dallon stood there in her jammies, clearly startled to see Carlos.

"Hi Amy. I brought your problem case home. He doesn't seem to be able to stay fixed," Taylor quipped.

"You said he was hurt. You didn't say that... I don't even know what to describe that. Come in, you two."

"Where's Dad?"

"He went to bed already. He said he'd appreciate some breakfast. Apparently, he has an early morning tomorrow."

Amy pointed at the living room table. "Sit there. May I?"

Carlos carefully sat on the sturdy table, a slight smile on his face. "Sure, go ahead."

"Hmph. Crushed skull. Again. Some interesting rewiring in there. Eye's a goner, I'll have to regenerate that. You probably didn't even notice it ooze out. Your sweat glands are producing some kind of fire retardant. Three broken ribs and four cracked ones. Broken shoulder blade and clavicle. Compound factures in seven different other arm bones. Broken leg, cracked patella. Lung really did a number on you, didn't he? Can I heal you now?"

Carlos hmphed and said: "Sure. He actually didn't do all that much. Just grabbed me and threw me against a wall."

"Just grabbed you? From what I'm seeing he had to be at least ten feet tall at that point. Easily Brute eight or nine. You're damn lucky that you didn't hit that wall head first," Amy said. As she spoke Carlos's head seemed to inflate, his skull taking its usual shape. A moment later his empty eye socket filled with a milky white orb that soon turned into an eye. Small pops and cracks accompanied his bones setting and healing. Then, with a final thought she turned Carlos's sweat glands back to normal.

"You're going to be very hungry and thirsty for the next couple of days. Eat until you can't until you aren't hungry. Taylor, do you have anything he could munch on?"

"Sure. Give me a moment." Taylor came back after half a minute with a large tub of ice cream. "Here. Nothing much else worth eating right now."

"That's OK. Thanks," Carlos said and dug in. It took startlingly short time for him to finish the tub.

"Do you want to stay here or are you flying home?" Taylor asked while Carlos was finishing.

"I think I should go home. Besides, you already have a guest."

"There's room, but if you're sure. Take care," said Taylor.

"Yeah. I don't want to see you for at least couple of weeks, Carlos. Try not to hit your head on everything," Amy needled.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to Taylor. Seems to happen a lot around her," Carlos quipped on his way out.


	6. Headspace

To make it clear: All rights to characters, setting, story and central concepts in this story remain the property of Wildbow, Worm's author. This is just me playing in the sandbox. Worm can be found at parahumans dot wordpress dot com.

* * *

 **Headspace**

 **Chief Director Costa-Brown**

 _Mid to high Mover rating for the apparent ability to teleport anywhere with enough of her bug biomass. Not really accurate, as she is all those bugs even without the presence of her human-self._

 _Low to mid Shaker rating for her ability to form traps using spider silk and because she can move objects with her bug-selves. Although these are the most obvious ways she's used this aspect of her ability she can probably affect her environment much more than this._

 _Mid to very high Brute rating for likely immortality and the ability to transform into Brute-strength forms including that of Aegis. Assuming she contacts other biologically modified capes, especially extreme cases such as Crawler, this rating is likely to be very high._

 _Mid to high Breaker rating for her apparent ability to transform biological matter between different forms, apparently without any rational limit. Autobiokinesis, biometric powers, and apparent ability to keep in perfect health and condition for seemingly unlimited periods. Her ability to instantly communicate over any distance also seems to break the laws of physics as we understand them._

 _Apparent high to very high Master rating due to her control of her bug-selves. Not actually controlling anything but herself, but as almost no-one is capable of telling the difference between a natural bug and one that is part of her the point is moot._

 _Low Tinker rating due to her ability with arthropods. We have seen signs of accelerated evolution in her bug-selves. She's also getting quite good at producing various materials that can come from arthropods. We're currently exploring the possibility of her weaving the spider silk clothing directly on the bodies of parahumans for the perfect fit._

 _Low to high Blaster rating due to her utilization of flying insects capable of morphing into dangerous or even lethal ones midair. These swarms are very agile and home in almost unerringly. Actually avoiding or destroying the swarm is difficult._

 _Mid to high Thinker rating due to her multitasking and enhanced perception abilities. We have detected no limit on her multitasking ability, and if what she says about controlling all of herself is true, then it's likely it has no upper limit. Due to her having access to all the senses of the swarm and knowledge of their relative positions her sensory input and processing capacity is enormous._

 _Low to mid Striker rating for autobiokinesis and biometry. She apparently also acquires what she calls templates by touch. Each template is for a discrete species and seems to incorporate mostly the best possible genetic information, although the ability seems to care only about conflict resolution (combat) abilities of the species in question. It's noteworthy that according to our information Aegis has a template of his own, making him a species separate from homo sapiens._

 _Very high Changer rating. See document Flutter-1A-23575._

 _Very high Stranger rating. See document Flutter-1A-23575._

 _In case the asset turns hostile global deployment of biological and chemical warfare weapons is required and may be insufficient. This think tank is of the opinion that preventing this outcome is paramount as the threat would be similar or worse than that of Endbringers._

Director Costa-Brown watched the report with dismay. How could they have let Flutter happen? They should have used fuel-air bombardment or nukes the second they found out her abilities. Screw Brockton Bay, she was a global threat. Now, of course, the point was moot. Practically no way to contain her without her agreement, and she probably wouldn't agree. She was everywhere.

At least her Thinkers assured her that currently information about her was contained. She was sure that wouldn't last. Better make plans for the eventual reveal.

 **Dragon**

That went well, Dragon thought. Flutter had told her that she would keep an eye on Dragonslayers, and tell her if she found anything. Considering that Flutter's resources were even better than hers it probably wouldn't take long to locate them. Then it would be a matter of finding a way to deal with them. It wouldn't be easy. They had stolen a lot of her tech.

Dragon was also a bit worried about Taylor. Her behavior changed almost too much depending on the form she had taken. Based on her surveillance Taylor appeared annoyed whenever someone used the wrong pronoun about her - and the right pronoun was whatever gender she happened to be. Taylor was losing her gender identity or it was becoming so fluid it might as well not exist.

 **Amy**

It was heaven. Well, not heaven, no, but loads better than it was home. She felt relaxed for the first time in months. Taylor's dad was pretty much what she thought a dad should be like. Certainly not perfect, but at least he was present. Taylor herself was accepting, easy-going and even fun. Both of them genuinely wanted for her to take better care of herself, to chill a little. Amy knew that for a fact. She'd checked.

So she had limited herself to two hospital visits per week and had twice refused healing requests because the injuries would heal even without her intervention. It was scary but refreshing to say 'no'. Even if she had strongly been advised to begin screening her patients.

The first 'no' had been difficult up until some ants had climbed on the wall and had formed the words 'say no'. No one else seemed to have noticed. She herself was a bit stunned for an instant and had then proceeded to say the negative. It was surprisingly easy when she knew that Taylor approved.

Even so, it had worried her a little. Apparently Taylor really was everywhere. She hoped that Taylor could keep it together.

As for Vicky and the rest of her family, they had accepted the situation. Carol had raged a bit, but then turned around and told her to stay at Hebert's as long as she wanted. Mark reacted surprisingly much but let her go easily. Vicky was the one she had the most trouble.

She was OK with her staying at Taylor's place. She also wanted to visit all the time. If Taylor and Danny hadn't stepped in, Vicky would probably have moved in as well. Now she was limited to one hour-long visit per day.

Mrs. Yamada had recommended that she talk to Vicky about her feelings but she hadn't yet found the right time. Or the place. She, in fact, dreaded the whole discussion. Mrs. Yamada had also suggested that she ask Mark about treating his depression and that sounded like something she could tackle soon, she hoped.

Life was getting better. Amy smiled a bit and fell asleep on Taylor's bed.

 **Glaistig Uaine**

She had heard from Lung how Flutter was more than a butterfly-controlling shapeshifter with a cute name. Of course most paid Lung's grumblings no heed, figuring that he was just trying to save face. She knew different.

She had consulted some of the sleepers she had claimed and discovered that Lung told the truth as he knew. Yet some other sleepers had told her that Flutter was much more than just another deceptive sleeper.

Queen Administrator had finally revealed herself. Glaistig Uaine smiled. Their paths would cross soon enough. She was assured of that, at least.

 **Contessa**

Contessa was worried, even slightly hesitant. She couldn't really remember the last time she had even considered ignoring what her power guided her to do. It was true that her power told her that this way was the shortest and that most people would be saved. But was it enough to live?

She had consulted with Mother but she said to do what her power guided her to do. Contessa sighed. It was certainly one way to win but not one she would choose if she had alternatives. She had little time. Best use it by looking for those alternatives.

 **Danny**

Taylor has friends and she seems happy, Danny thought. Of course she had concealed things from him before, a fact that made him a bit sad and furious. The anger was directed mostly at himself but the school and PRT were frequent enough targets for it as well. Miss Militia still visited them occasionally and it was a definite mitigating factor. She had a surprisingly good sense of humor, seemed to care about Taylor, and always told him if his questions couldn't be answered. Still, he had gained a much better understanding about parahumans from her.

He had also registered on Parahuman Online on her suggestion. He hadn't yet posted anything and was following threads about Flutter and the Wards. He also kept an eye on Brockton Bay board as well as the official PRT ones. Thus far Taylor's true abilities seemed to be hidden still, as well as her identity. There were some rumors, started by ABB no doubt, that Flutter could control other insects besides butterflies as well, but most people either dismissed them or didn't care. Apparently some of the ABB members she and Aegis had encountered with Lung had gotten away.

Taylor herself was very active on PHO which was a bit surprising. She had told him about her multitasking ability, but it was still odd to see her lounging in front of the TV with Amy and hear a ding from his computer announcing that Flutter had posted something new on PHO. She also claimed to be on duty at the console at the HQ most of the time even though she seemed to spend most of her time home or at school.

Amy was also easy to get along with. Danny quite liked her, especially after she had gotten over her awkwardness. It was good for Taylor to have a friend, he thought, but he was getting a bit worried about Amy's reluctance to talk about her parents, home, and the reason why she was staying with them. She did look healthier now but he suspected she was avoiding dealing with her issues, at least some of them. After mulling about the subject a while he decided to give Amy another week. If she didn't deal with it herself in that time he'd contact her parents and set up a meet. The situation obviously couldn't go on forever, even if it was nice to have her around to support Taylor.

 **Coil**

PRT response times and information gathering had improved dramatically lately. In fact, the improvement had been quite ridiculous in scale. It was becoming downright frustrating. Almost all of his plans had to be rethought and he burned through alternative timelines trying to find out what had changed. Even Tattletale was baffled, although she guessed that there was a new parahuman involved. The only one that fit the timeline was Flutter but her apparent powerset didn't explain things at all. She had taken down Lung with Aegis, though, so there could be something the PRT was hiding. Even from him.

It would be expensive but he couldn't really move forward as things were at the moment. He picked up his phone started calling through his contacts that might be able to get more information on what was happening in Brockton Bay.

 **Accord**

The problem posed to him by Contessa was certainly interesting and complex enough for him to tackle. He already had begun formulating a plan in his mind but he was considering whether or not he wanted to actually write it down and hand it to Cauldron. As far as he could see Flutter's - it had been a simple matter of deduction based on the powers described to him - influence on the world was towards order. After Contessa's visit he had checked on arthropod populations and threat estimates worldwide and had seen that things were better and more orderly. There were only a handful of new cases of malaria and he suspected that the origin of those was something other than the mosquitos. A distinct betterment of the world was apparent if you knew to look for it.

Still, the threat posed by Flutter was very real so he continued working on his plan. He suddenly realized that she could be the instrument in several older plans of his. A rare smile graced his countenance and he went to work.

 **Jack Slash**

"Something's bugging me, Bonesaw," Jack said, eyeing his surroundings. Bonesaw looked around and said: "I don't see anything. Well, I see all kinds of things, but they're all dead. Nothing interesting."

"Indeed," Jack muttered. There was something here, his gut was warning him, but he couldn't see anything. It was oppressive. Time to go, perhaps lay low for a while. See if the feeling goes away. If it wouldn't, well, perhaps Bonesaw could check up on him. They'd figure out something.


End file.
